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- On-farm Processing Brings
Grower Closer to Consumers
- By Jeffrey Carter
Ontario Correspondent
- Ontario asparagus growers John and Claudia Jaques fully recognize the challenges of the open market. The Jaques and other Ontario growers have faced stiff competition from the United States since the signing of the Canada-U.S. Trade Agreement 12 years ago. Now, like their counterparts in Michigan, they’re dealing with the deluge of asparagus from Peru and other South American countries that is flooding North America.
In response, the Jaques began to add value to their crop five years ago by producing a pickled product on their farm. They’re also discovering the merits of cooperation.
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| John Jaques, an Ontario asparagus grower, has learned not to worry about weather-related problems. A greater concern is competition from the United States and South America. |
“We’re beginning to work with a number of small growers with the idea of having a joint venture on a number or products because I think there’s a need for growers with minor crops to work together,” John Jaques says.
Pickled garlic and pickled green beans are now being produced at the Jaques’ Sunshine Asparagus Farms near Bothwell, Ontario, in addition to their dilled and zesty-dilled asparagus. They’re also experimenting with several other pickled products including beets, snap peas, celery root, Brussels sprouts and carrots.
The idea is to add value to what they and other farmers grow, bringing them another step closer to the consumer. Besides, the Jaques feel they’re in better control of their own destiny this way.
“I don’t like to depend on someone else to take my product,” John Jaques says. “Every year we had to wait and wonder if the processors were going to run again.”
This year the processors, at least in Ontario, are not running. So the Jaques are shipping some asparagus to a processor in Quebec, selling some to the fresh market, and plan to process the rest right on the farm. In late April this year, the finishing touches were being put on their new production line. The 40-odd workers at Sunshine Asparagus will spend their mornings picking and then move indoors to work on the pack.
It’s not a huge volume. Last year, the Jaques processed 50,000 pounds - about 10% of their total harvest from 140 acres. This was sold wholesale to Western Canadian supermarkets, independent grocers in Ontario, and retailers in New York State.
It’s taken about five years to get to this point. Claudia Jaques began by refining recipes in her kitchen, eventually moving the operation to an addition next to the asparagus handling facility.
Surprisingly, Sunshine Asparagus Farms is now the largest processor of asparagus in Ontario. Nabisco Brands now imports Peruvian canned asparagus to meet domestic needs in Canada and so is no longer acquiring Ontario asparagus for canning. The Peruvian industry, Jaques says, is built on cheap labor and American investment dollars.
“This is the first year since 1938 (since the asparagus board was started) that there will be no asparagus canned or frozen in Ontario,” he says.
There’s about 2,000 acres of commercial asparagus and 120 growers in Ontario with about 85% of the crop being sold to the fresh market. That compares to about more than 16,000 acres being grown next door in Michigan.
With its smaller acreage, the Ontario asparagus industry may be less vulnerable. Still, the Jaques are angry. John Jaques points to the Canadian auto industry which receives the benefit of tariffs. He feels agriculture in general has been the sacrificial lamb when it comes to trade negotiations and horticultural growers probably receive the least government support in agriculture.
“We’re talking about free trade and we’re told we have to compete on a level playing field (but) we lost all our seasonal tariffs,” John Jaques says. “I don’t think we have a strong enough lobby... The message we’re getting from both the federal and provincial governments is that they really don’t care if Canadian crops like asparagus fail or not.”
The Canada-U.S. Free Trade Agreement, he estimates, has cost his operation a half million dollars since it was signed in 1989. Most of that, he suspects, would have been pumped back into the economy as improvements were made to their operation at Bothwell, Ontario - Sunshine Asparagus Farms.
It’s not that Ontario’s asparagus growers are inefficient, the Jaques says. The introduction of hybrid varieties have led to increased yields and processing contract prices for asparagus were 5% lower last year as compared to six years ago. John Jaques adds that it requires a long-term commitment to grow asparagus. It took a quarter million dollars (Canadian) for land and establishment costs to add another 30 acres of production in 1998. He and Claudia can not just drop out of the business.
John Jaques explains that while a relatively small percentage of Ontario asparagus was sold for processing last year, the volume was important because the annual processing contract essentially established a floor price. When fresh market prices dropped below this floor price, growers would ship more for processing, helping to buoy the fresh market price. This “safety valve” is now gone.
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